Spacing Editor Dale Duncan has written in Eye about a program in Toronto that takes inner-city youth on camping trips within the city itself, using areas such as the lakeshore and the Humber river: the Inner City Outtripping Centre (ICOC). It’s one of those successful, cost-effective programs that somehow never get the funding they really need.
It’s a great way of making better use of the amazing public spaces Toronto already possesses:
While many people debate whether building more basketball courts or community centres is the best way to help solve the problems of gangs, drugs and violence, the ICOC takes advantage of the many spaces that already exist in Toronto, getting kids and teens to see and experience the city in ways most of us rarely consider.